Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister and thank him for introducing this Bill. As he stated, it facilitates the winding up of the Residential Institutions Redress Board. It also removes the board's power to consider applications made on or after 17 September 2011. I welcome the fact that Bill requires that the board must advertise this fact at least six weeks prior to 17 September next. Since the original closing date of 15 December 2005, some 1,260 applications have been made. This is out of an overall total of 15,173 applications with which the board has dealt. Is the Minister convinced that all of the people entitled to submit applications for redress have done so?

On "The Pat Kenny Show" yesterday, a woman described the time she spent in a residential institution. She referred to how residents were stripped of their personalities and indicated that the default position was for people to put what had happened out of their minds when they left the institution. In such circumstances, could there be others who have suffered deep psychological traumas who have yet to come forward? What right to redress, if any, will these individuals have after 17 September? Could the residential institutions statutory fund Bill, which will be brought forward in the near future, be used to provide special advice and counselling to those to whom I refer if they came forward in the future?

By the end of June of this year, the board had finalised 14,645 cases out of the overall total of 15,173. It made some 13,720 awards and paid out €836 million in respect of these. The legal costs involved amounted to €158 million. Therefore, the grand total was €1.05 billion. Is it possible to indicate the percentage of former residents who were still alive in 1999 to which this figure relates? Would that information be available from any source?

The report by the compensation advisory committee, Towards Redress and Recovery - more commonly known as the Ryan report - states that no amount of money can truly compensate those who have been abused. This is true. The horrors suffered by children who were resident in industrial schools, reformatory schools, orphanages, children's homes and special schools can only be imagined. Monetary compensation is but a small consolation in the context of lives that were seriously damaged or, in some cases, utterly destroyed. Mr. Justice Esmond Smyth and the Residential Institutions Redress Board must be thanked for the compassionate and understanding way in which they have gone about their business.

The Ryan report also states that the making of financial redress to individual survivors is only one of the measures necessary. In this context, I welcome the fact that the proposed residential institutions statutory fund Bill will soon be brought forward. This legislation will provide continued support for the victims of residential institutional child abuse. Such support will include counselling services and psychological support. When will be Bill be introduced? I welcome the fact that the religious congregations are to contribute €110 million to the fund. The final cost relating to this matter is currently estimated at €1.36 billion. The Minister indicated that even in light of discussions on a 50-50 sharing of the costs involved, there will still be a shortfall of €200 million on the part of the congregations. If ever there was a time for a gesture to be made, this is it. I appeal to the congregations to discuss with the Minister, in a spirit of change and renewal and in an open and positive way, how matters might be progressed. There is a need for such change and renewal in this country. The State also bears responsibility for what occurred. If we deny that responsibility, then the abuse could happen again.

It is continually stated that the majority of abuse occurs in the home. There is a need, therefore, to welcome and support the Private Members' motion relating to the social, personal and health education, SPHE, programme - incorporating relationships and sexuality education, RSE - in the senior cycle in post-primary schools. This programme is mandatory in primary schools and in the junior cycle in post-primary schools. I do not want to pre-empt the debate on the motion tabled by some of the Independent Members but I ask the Minister to take cognisance of what will be said in order that he might take the action that is required. I congratulate the Minister on his efforts in this regard. As the Ryan report states in its concluding remarks, this abuse must never happen again.